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By sticking to the tried and tested Longitude formula, Philbrick has missed a slight trick or two. The epicenter of the whaling industry was Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod; most of the whales were in the Pacific, necessitating a huge journey around the southernmost tip of South America. We never learn why no one ever tried to create an alternative whaling capital somewhere nearer. Similarly, Philbrick tells us that the story of the Essex was well known to Americans for decades, but he never explores how such legends fade from our consciousness. Philbrick would no doubt reply that such questions were beyond his remit, and you can't exactly accuse him of skimping on his research. By any standard, 50 pages of footnotes impress, though he wears his learning lightly. He doesn't get bogged down in turgid detail, and his narrative rattles along at a nice pace. When the storyline is as good as this, you can't really ask for more. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk
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Book Description Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Ex library copy with usual stamps & stickers . Minor shelf wear. Seller Inventory # wbb0020658470
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good-. Reprint; First Printing. Minor shelf wear to unclipped DJ with some cat clawing to base of spine, slight grime to edges of reading block. ; Green cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine. Nice tight copy, no names or marks inside. DJ artwork by Melvyn Smith. Very heavy book and priced accordingly. ; The Windsor Selection; 376 pages; The epic true-life story of one of the most notorious maritime disasters of the 19th century, which was the inspiration for Herman Melville s classic novel Moby Dick. The sinking of the whaleship Essex by an enraged spermwhale in the Pacific in November 1820 set in motion one of the most dramatic sea stories of all time. The twenty sailors who survived the wreck took to three small boats, three months later another whaleship spotted a tiny boat with only two survivors after resorting to cannibalising their mates. Seller Inventory # 28759